Many tests are provided which measure a behavior, e.g., a response or reaction to some kind of stimuli. For example, with hearing tests, a person is often asked to respond by pressing a button when he or she hears a sound. Other behavioral tests of this type include but are not limited to 1) tests of sensory sensitivity to physical stimuli including tests of hearing, vision, tactile sensation, and olfaction; 2) tests of cognitive function; 3) aptitude tests; 4) academic achievement tests and 5) personality tests. A typical prior art test method is illustrated in FIG. 1. An examiner administers a test to measure a psychometric quantity (step 1′). The psychometric quantity is usually measured by tracking a behavioral response or reaction to some kind of stimuli or question (step 2′). The results of these behavioral tests are typically displayed in some tangible form (step 3′). For example, the results of a hearing test are often displayed in the form of an audiogram. Sometimes, the results are further converted into a percentile rank, grade, category or the like. Prior art methods do not measure any other variables or behaviors seen during the test other than the response which determines the psychometric quantity measurement. Prior art methods also do not have any mechanism for quantitatively assessing the accuracy of test results.
It is often difficult from looking at the display of a given test result alone to determine whether the results are accurate. The accuracy of a given test result can vary due to a number of factors. For example, accuracy can be decreased when the test is taken by an unreliable subject. An unreliable subject may not always be truthful in answering test questions or may not respond to a stimulus or respond when there is no stimulus. Likewise, a subject with previous test taking experience may not be as reliable, as the subject may have too much knowledge of the test methods, such as tricks or elements of surprise used with the test. It would be desirable to be able to tell from the face of a test result whether the subject was reliable or not.
The accuracy of a test can also vary depending on the particular test procedure or methodologies used by a test examiner. Some procedures may produce more accurate results than others or an examiner may take shortcuts in administering the test, which decreases the accuracy. Even if an examiner was required to follow a strictly standardized method, it is difficult to tell from the face of a test result whether the standard method was properly followed. Thus, it is desirable to provide for more automated and standardized testing methods to ensure that the same method is always used.
The experience of the examiner may also affect the test accuracy, as more experienced examiners tend to produce more accurate test results. In the case of hearing tests, these tests are generally performed manually and audiologists often vary in their methods of performing the hearing test. Also, an experienced audiologist often subjectively evaluates the quality of an audiogram also taking into consideration observances seen during the test, but which do not show up on an audiogram, e.g., an observance of one or more false positive responses. However, an inexperienced audiologist may not make these observances and would only objectively evaluate the hearing test based on the audiogram only. It would be desirable to provide a test method wherein the test results are not affected by the experience of the examiner.
Further, if an examiner reviews a test result of a test given by another examiner, he or she does not have any indication as to the accuracy of the test and will not be able to take any subjective factors into consideration since he or she did not perform the test. Likewise, the examiner who actually performed the test may later review the results but not remember the subjective factors taken into consideration. This greatly limits the ability to compare test results across examiners. Often times, the only way to remedy this problem is to perform another test, which requires the use of more personnel and resources. Thus, it would be desirable to qualitatively assess a test result and to provide one or more quality indicators to allow an objective person to assess the quality and accuracy of the test given.